sonya.hughes@alumni.utexas.net
Public Health Apprentice for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Dallas, TX
Background:
I was a Pre-Med/African-American studies major at UT-Austin. On the UT campus I was involved in Black Health Professions, Longhorn Scholars and Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society.
I came to Dr. Gore’s lab in 2003, when she had first moved to Austin and was setting up her lab. I was the first work-study student that she hired, and I stayed in her lab until my graduation in 2007. For the summer 2004 I received an Endocrine Society fellowship, which provided me a stipend and allowed me to perform research full time. I began my research projects by investigating the circadian (24 hour day/night cycle) regulation of the timing of puberty, taking a pharmacological approach. I also developed an interest in how puberty is regulated in humans, and wrote a paper with Dr. Gore on this subject.
Currently, I am working for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Dallas, and attending UNTHSC in the Masters in Public Health program.
Publication:
- Hughes SM, Gore AC (2007) How the brain controls puberty, and implications for sex and ethnic differences. Family and Community Health 30: S112-S114.
Published Abstracts:
- Gore AC, Feduccia A, Choudhury L, Yin W, Steinberg RM, Maffucci JA, Hughes S (2004) Blockade of the nocturnal increase in GnRH release delays the onset of puberty in female rats. Endocrine Society Abst.
- Hillsman KD, Hughes SM, Maffucci JA, Gore AC (2004) Circadian regulation of the timing of puberty in rats. Society for Neuroscience Abst.
- Hughes SM, Yin W, Gore AC (2006) The GnRH antagonist acyline delays puberty and suppresses the reproductive axis of male but not female rats. Endocrine Society Abst, Boston, MA.
Honors:
- University of Texas, Undergraduate Research Fellowship, 2006
- University of Texas System Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Program, 2005
- Endocrine Society Summer Research Fellowship, 2004